The duty of information

Conflict situations are complex systems to tackle, no transparency applied to the trade of arms, corruption spreading everywhere, arms lobbies condition governments and markets: what to do, then? How to inform citizens about this intricate system? How to force governments to make data more available? And how to counter-attack post-truth politics?
Forensic methodologies and open-source investigative techniques have been used in the research to cross-check data gathered from different news sources. Many databases, reports, platforms have been essential for the construction of this repository: here a selection.

→ Made in Europe, bombed in Yemen
In December 2019, a joint force of international organizations (ECCHR, Mwatana for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Campaign Against Arms Trade UK, Centre Delàs, and Rete Disarmo) filed a case against European arms companies that supply the Saudi-led coalition.
Raytheon Systems Ltd., MBDA France S.A.S., MBDA UK Ltd., Rheinmetall AG (Germany) through its subsidiary RWM Italia S.p.A. and Thales (France) are in the sight of the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, Netherlands.

→ Arms Transfer Database
The SIPRI Arms Industry Database contains information on arms-producing and military services. It includes public and private companies, but not manufacturing or maintenance units of the armed services. The database contains financial data and employment data for arms-producing companies in the OECD and developing countries (except China) based on open sources.

→ Bellingcat Yemen Project
Bellingcat is an investigative journalism website that specializes in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). The Yemen Project features 20 in-depth analysis of airstrikes on civilian buildings committed by the Saudi-led coalition.

→ EU Arms Project
Lighthouse Reports (a media non-profit based in Amsterdam) - in cooperation with local and international partners - aims to shed a light on the export of European arms. With a series of investigative bootcamps, teams of journalists, investigators and topic experts spend two weeks of dedicated time to track and trace the route of arms - country by country.

→ Yemen Data Project
The Yemen Data Project collects data on the conduct of the war in Yemen, to increase transparency and promote accountability of the actors involved. In the absence of official military records from any of the parties to the conflict, the Project was founded in 2016 with the overall goal of contributing independent and neutral data to increase transparency and to inform humanitarian response, human rights advocacy, media coverage, and policy discussion.

→ War in Yemen, Made in Europe
The platform documents the role of European arms in the war in Yemen through an inventory of military material and companies based on the data collected from Arms Trade Watch.

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